Taro T

FYI, the tix claim 8PM as well.

#6 is kind of surprising. Always thought by his last 2 years in Buffalo he was significantly better* in his own end than he got credit for but never thought we'd see the day people considered him one of the 10 best defensive F's in the league by any possible stretch. * Provided he wasn't on the ice with Ristolainen. Those 2 together were a series high danger chances against just waiting to happen.

Taking the "Turkeys Away" break from football. It's a tradition in this household. Happy Thanksgiving (to all) from Douuubbblllle Ewwwwwwwwwweee ... Kkkaaaaayyyyyyy ... Aaaaaarrrrrrrrreeeeereee ... Peeeeeeeeee.

The amazing thing is, in that 1st Sabres training camp for a 3v3 between the blue lines drill, he was using that exact toe drag stick handle to simply destroy the drill. His hands were amazing that day. Then he tried using it in games for 3 years and had it work, what, twice in all that time. He gets moved back to C and suddenly rather than making himself look stupid he's making some really good players look like they have hockey IQs in the low 60s. Who besides Granato realized he needed to be able to fully extend to the right along w/ the left for that to work? Literally, even Thompson didn't see himself as a C in '21. He seems like a good guy. Really glad that Granato kept believing in him. After he tore his shoulder apart was certain he didn't understand the game well enough to succeed at this level. Yeah, sure, he'd be a 4th liner for a couple more years or, considering the lack of talent in Buffalo, a 3rd liner for a while, but completely did not expect him to become a legit 1C. (Even should he regress, didn't see 2C in his future either.) Like many of the other Sabres, he's fun to watch.

He and Hjalmerson Hammarstrom were pretty much the advance scouts for the Euro Invasion that the WHA then promoted & really took off in the '80's sfter the merger. RIP Borje. Hockey was better for your presence.

Haven't been able to watch as closely the matchups on TV so the perception may be off, but when watching in person have noticed that Mittelstadt's line has been getting the tougher matchups than the Cozens line at least since they came back from the western road trip. That could be part of the difference in perceptions. (And, not positive that's Granato's preference, though it seems to be, as he tends to roll his C's regardless of what adjustments the opponent has made.) Also, have noticed that the Mitts line tries to pass the puck towards the high danger areas & the Cozens line tends to carry it there. Which, considering how when Mitts came into the league he ALWAYS carried the puck to the slot (oftentimes losing it in the process) that is a mildly surprising development. It seems Taylor truly did break him of that habit. Agree that getting Olofsson away from Mitts might help both, but am not putting Victor on either the Thompson nor Cozens line & his game doesn't fit the 4th line. So, pretty sure they're stuck w/ each other.

He really could grow into a 4. But now he's a 5 (or a 5/4 on a very good day). @dudacek remains pretty high on him, so hoping he can get there. And hoping Johnson signs too & ends up even better.

Awesome, they'll have a chip on their shoulder on Friday. Sabres play like they did tonight, that won't matter.

Very nice game overall. The D were solid and Jokiharju only found himself below the opposing goal line once which was a big part of them all being solid. The Thompson line & Cozens line both had excellent games. Really glad to see Cozens bury that beautiful setup from his linemates. Have no concerns about Quinn scoring at this level, but Cozens has been snakebit a lot last year and this. (The Peterka goal last night should've been Dylan's - still not sure how he didn't bury it.) Did not realize he had 4 heading into this game (recall 2 of them & thought he had 3) so he's on pace for 20 now. Would really like to see him get there. Liking Jost so far. Not convinced it isn't the new team adrenaline bump, but if it isn't he'll help the cause. A lot of times 1st round picks don't make it with the team that drafted them because the expectation is he has to be top 6 or he's a bust. Paille was a great 4th liner for the B's but never had that option here because of where he was drafted. If he can take Lazar's spot (figuratively, realize he's a W not a C) it would help. Mittelstadt's line was as bad as their haters said in the 1st. But, they actually played pretty well in the 2nd & generated chances in the 3rd. As for UPL, got the feeling that for the 1st time in a long time we got to see what other team's fans often see their backup do against Buffalo. The guy looks shaky early but gets some luck in the shots hitting his pads or going wide. He either escapes the 1st without a goal against or only 1 given up & then has confidence in the 2nd & 3rd. Thought he was shaky until the Tarasenko save in the 2nd & the next 4 shots went right into his logo or leg pads. After that, he looked much more confident. Seems the Blues were reading the old book on him - shoot high. That hasn't been the way to beat him for ~1-1/2 years. His glove was good. The D need to be ready to help limit opponents chances to get him moving. That is what they'll be going after. Get him moving & take the holes that open up. Watched on the tube, but got to watch it with my kid. Fun night. Nice way to enter Thanksgiving. Btw, happy turkey day to all (even our Canadian friends that already had theirs last month & our Euro friends that don't celebrate it at all). Through 20 games, they're only 6 points off a playoff pace. So, the goal becomes 13 points every 10 games from here on out instead of 12. Considering they just went through an 8 game winless streak w/ no OT nor SO losses & that isn't half bad. 0.650 I'd tough, but doable if they can stay reasonably healthy. And that's the benefit of being young - guys are way more resilient and able to avoid injuries than those that are a little older.

Prepare to be disappointed. Pilut was typically playing w/ Lyubushkin before Bryson got bumped back down to the 3rd pairing.

Good on Quinn. If he can keep it up, it'll help the cause greatly. Nice call in the OP.

We had planned on going tonight but somebody made us an offer we couldn't refuse. Sitting home to start the long weekend will be nice. BTW, thanks for posting this every home game. Nice to see how they're doing ticketwise before actually arriving. 🍻

If you need 4 seats, that's $200 right out of the box. Throw on a couple of beers & pops & you're talking real money. Personally, go to a bunch of games, but that's the bulk of our discretionary spending. When the kids were young split down to just a handful of games: too expensive & too much time (with dropping the kids off & picking them back up plus driving to + from Buffalo, a game was easily a 7 hour event).

Losing Miller led to them losing 4 in a row & 5 of 6 before the team settled down & Biron went on his ridiculously improbable winning streak (which was helped by not getting charged the L vs SJ). It also didn't hurt that they could avoid the Otters for about 2 more months. Those guys were Buffalo's kryptonite early that year.

Thanks for the clarification. That makes a lot more sense.

Wait one darn minute here. Teppo friggin' Numinnen was a "leader who (had) been through the wars that know(s) how to win?" Really? The guy who had 16 years of NHL action and never saw the 2nd round before coming to Buffalo had been through the wars and knew how to win? No ####ing way. 15 years with what had been the poster child for a dysfunctional organization and, along w/ Doan, was a leader from that dysfunctional organization. He was a great player who knew how to be a pro and he was a leader, but he hadn't won #### on the NHL. And his not having won didn't mean he wasn't a leader. Contrary to what sure seems to be your assertion.

Sorry, Lindgren.

You appear to have more faith in UPL than many of the rest of us have. Really hoping for an early Christmas present with Comrie coming back after the homestand.

Or is that just what it wants you to think? 😉

The LT #4 is likely in the system (the broad 50 contract one, not necessarily in Buffalo or Ra-cha-cha), in 1 form or another. Whether it be Jokiharju improving as he hits his prime, Johnson, Sanheim Lindgren or 1 of the Russians, or some F players/prospects that go out the door for him. Don't see Adams going FA for the LT answer there, but very well might go that route for the ST answer. Still expect the ST answer to come via FA like Lyubushkin did.

No. The analog is having Samuelsson, Jokiharju, Pilut, Fitzgerald, Clague, & Prow (Davies, Pritchett, other). How often do teams win that one?

Carolina got the SC that year because their opponents suffered key injuries (the Sabres well documented injuries, Williams putting his stick in Koivu's eye, breaking the Eulers' starter) while they only suffered 1 injury of their own & that when they had a great replacement finally healthy and ready to step in. Until game 6 of the Finals they never had a single one of their 20 dressed players unable to go in the next game due to injury. That run of injury-free luck will NEVER be repeated.

This. So much this. Yep. Go out & win the next one. Do that often enough and they're back in the mix.

He stood out more yesterday than he had as he is a significant step down from the other 5 when all are healthy and he misplayed the big rebound Anderson gave up for the 2nd goal. Personally would prefer to see him replaced by Pilut as am interested in seeing how he would work with a healthy Lyubushkin as they had good moments but when Buusch had a bad giveaway due presumably to his injury he couldn't cover for it. Should Granato ever drop Jokiharju to 3rd pairing, would keep Bryson in as expect he'd work better w/ Henri than Larry. And, yes, an upgrade would be great, but just don't see Adams doing that prior to the trade deadline at the earliest unless somebody unexpected becomes available.

Granato spoke highly of Jost's PK play. Expecting that was one of the reasons they took a flyer on him. While the rest of his game can be problematic at times, Jokiharju is a very good PKer. Wonder how much of the aggression on the PK by the F's was knowing they had Samuelsson & Henri behind them for the bulk of it rather than Bryson & an injured Lyubushkin behind them. Speaking of Buusch, he was playing like he did before catching that puck off the foot/leg. They might actually have all 6 of their regulars healthy finally. Still want to see how a healthy Buusch would look like to Power, but even deployed as Granato keeps insisting they be deployed, the D is much improved. (And maybe it's more knowing how the 3rd pairing gets deployed that's keeping Buusch down there. Henri & Bryson could be very scary if put against a strong line.)